soprano

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superānus, adjective from preposition Latin super (“above”). Doublet of sovereign, from the same Latin root via Old French.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈpɹænoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

soprano (plural sopranos or soprani or sopranoes)

1. The musical part higher in pitch than alto, typically encompassing the range of the treble clef.
2. A person or instrument that performs the soprano part.

   Synonyms: sop, (informal) [Term?]

   boy soprano

   soprano saxophone

   • 2008, Denis Norden, chapter 8, in Chips from a Life, →ISBN:

     I was only once faced with the task of auditioning a nimiety of sopranos.

Coordinate terms

• (voice types): mezzo-soprano, contralto (female); countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass (male)
• (music) SATB

Derived terms

• lyric soprano
• mezzo-soprano
• sing soprano
• sopranino
• sopranist
• soprano recorder
• soprano sax
• soprano saxophone
• soprano saxophonist
• spinto soprano

 

Translations

pitch

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女高音 (zh) (nǚgāoyīn)

• Czech: soprán (cs) m
• Finnish: sopraano (fi)
• French: soprano (fr) m
• Galician: soprano (gl) m
• Georgian: სოპრანო (soṗrano)
• German: Sopran (de) m
• Hawaiian: kopolano
• Hungarian: szoprán (hu)
• Indonesian: sopran (id)
• Japanese: ソプラノ (ja) (sopurano)
• Malay: soprano
• Maori: reo kōtike, reo tōiri, reo tōiri
• Niuean: leo kula
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sopran m

  Nynorsk: sopran m

• Portuguese: soprano (pt) m
• Romanian: soprană (ro) f
• Russian: сопра́но (ru) n (sopráno) (indeclinable)
• Spanish: soprano m
• Swedish: sopran (sv) c

person or instrument

• Catalan: soprano (ca) f
• Finnish: sopraano (fi)
• Galician: soprano (gl) m or f
• Georgian: სოპრანო (soṗrano)
• Hawaiian: kopolano
• Hungarian: szoprán (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sopran m

  Nynorsk: sopran m

• Portuguese: soprano (pt) m or f
• Romanian: soprană (ro) f
• Russian: сопра́но (ru) n (sopráno) (indeclinable)
• Spanish: soprano m or f
• Swedish: sopran (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} sopraan (nl) f
• French: ^{(please verify)} soprano (fr)
• German: (1,2) ^{(please verify)} Sopran (de) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} soprano (it)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 高音 (zh) (gāoyīn), ^{(please verify)} 女高音 (zh) (nǚgāoyīn), ^{(please verify)} 童声高音
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} sopran (sl) m
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} bè xôpran (vi) , (person) ^{(please verify)} người hát giọng nữ cao , ^{(please verify)} instrument: đàn xôpran (vi) , ^{(please verify)} kèn xôpran (vi)

Verb

soprano (third-person singular simple present sopranos, present participle sopranoing, simple past and past participle sopranoed)

1. To sing or utter with high pitch.
   • 1953, Isaac Asimov, The Caves of Steel:

     "Sure they ain't done me no harm," sopranoed the woman.

See also

• soprano on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Proanos, pronaos

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superanus, from Latin super. Doublet of the inherited sobirà.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [suˈpɾa.nu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [soˈpɾa.no]

Noun

soprano m (plural sopranos)

1. soprano

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superanus, from Latin super. Doublet of the inherited souverain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔ.pʁa.no/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: sopranos

Noun

soprano m (plural sopranos)

1. soprano

   Synonym: soprane

Further reading

• “soprano”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *superānus, from Latin super. Also from *superānus: Italian sovrano.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soˈpra.no/
• Rhymes: -ano
• Hyphenation: so‧prà‧no

Noun

soprano m (plural soprani)

1. a singer, commonly a woman, with a register higher than alto and the rest of the parts: soprano leggero, soprano lirico
2. the upper part in harmony for mixed voices: parte di soprano
3. instrument that performs the soprano part: flauto soprano

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English soprano, from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superānus, from Latin super.

Noun

soprano m (plural sopranos)

1. (Jersey, music) soprano

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superanus, from Latin super. Doublet of soberano.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈpɾɐ̃.nu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈpɾɐ̃.nu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /soˈpɾɐ.no/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈpɾɐ.nu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈpɾɐ.nu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈpɾa.nu/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɐnu, (Brazil) -ɐ̃nu
• Hyphenation: so‧pra‧no

Noun

soprano m (plural sopranos)

1. (music) soprano (the highest vocal range)

Noun

soprano m or f by sense (plural sopranos)

1. soprano (person singing with a soprano voice)

Romanian

Noun

soprano n (plural soprane)

1. Alternative form of sopran

Declension

	singular			plural
	+ indefinite article	+ definite article		+ indefinite article	+ definite article
nominative/accusative	(un) soprano	sopranoul		(niște) sopranouri	sopranourile
genitive/dative	(unui) soprano	sopranoului		(unor) sopranouri	sopranourilor
vocative	sopranoule			sopranourilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian soprano, from Vulgar Latin *superanus, from Latin super. Doublet of soberano.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soˈpɾano/ [soˈpɾa.no]
• Rhymes: -ano
• Syllabification: so‧pra‧no

Noun

soprano m or f by sense (plural sopranos)

1. soprano (singer)

Noun

soprano m (plural sopranos)

1. soprano (pitch)

Further reading

• “soprano”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28